will 40hp lower fit my 48hp?

[manatee42]

just bought a 16' sylvan w/ 1987 48spl a couple weeks ago , so first thing my son and i do is change lower unit fluid, it looked very dirty but motor ran nice.we put it in the drink ,4 outings later lower is skipping out of gear , we drained the lower fluid looks burned full of metal chips ..so goes buying a used boat, so i found a 1987 40 hp used lower unit and am wondering if it will fit and if not what other years/hp would fit ? thanks

[boats.net]

Yes that lower unit should fit.